Turning Points
by Corvus corone
Summary: [Gold/Silver, gameverse] Nine moments featuring Gold being LOUD and awesome, and Silver trying to grow up. Mostly silly - though with a couple of serious moments too - and all set post-game.


_content: Gold/Silver (HGSSgame!verse, since I haven't read the manga) which I think is called Huntershipping and probably not Preciousmetalshipping but it gets a bit mixed up in the fandom, some swearing. author's note at the end._

**Turning Points**

**ooo  
**

**1.**

Silver did not particularly like being stood up. Not that he had much experience being stood up, since he hadn't exactly been on any other dates (or friendly gatherings, or family parties, or Pokemon fanclub meetings, or... anything that involved Other People Meeting Up At The Same Time, really) – but he'd had enough of this brand new "being stood up" experience to realise that he didn't particularly like it.

He probably shouldn't have agreed to this date anyway. It wasn't like he actually, you know, _liked_ Gold or anything. Well. Maybe he did kind of think Gold was maybe perhaps kind of an okay Pokemon trainer and yeah, meeting up with a guy to talk about Pokemon for about half an hour was normal, right? It wasn't silly or nerve-wracking and Silver most certainly did not have to feel self-conscious about needing a haircut or whether Gold really thought his favourite red-and-black jacket suited him nicely.

So there was no reason to feel silly or nerve-wracked.

Except for the reason that "I HAVE NO IDEA WHY BUT I CAN'T HELP IT OKAY". Silver checked his Pokegear again. It was 6:07pm.

Gold was _seven whole minutes late_ and this was the worst feeling in the world and Silver was going to die alone and unloved.

Something nudged Silver in his back and sent him sprawling fowards. He looked round, glaring.

"Mega?" said his Meganium, looking apologetic. "Ganii..." She tried to nuzzle him comfortingly, presumably having sensed his slightly frantic "I'm going to die alone!" thoughts.

Silver patted her absentmindedly. No need to overreact. There's nothing embarrassing about this, he thought. Because he didn't really _like_ Gold, or _care_ about him, or any of that mushy weak stuff. He just... thought Gold was a strong trainer. And he had nice eyes, and a nice face, and it wasn't mushy or weak to think that someone attractive was attractive and be all attracted to their attractiveness. (It had taken about five years for Silver to become okay with admitting that other people could occasionally be attractive and that it was not a sign of weakness to be attracted to people. It had taken a few more years for Silver to become okay with the fact that he might be gay. So Silver had actually come quite a long way already – surprisingly enough – and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.)

Absolutely no caring or friendship involved, nope. And _clearly_ Silver was only worried about Gold's lateness because he might miss out on making out with a hot guy tonight, and not because he actually gave a toss about what Gold thought of him or what terrible things might have befallen poor kind-hearted, caring Gold. _Clearly_.

"Maybe I should call him," muttered Silver to Meganium. She giggled and shook her head, accidentally hitting him in the shoulder.

"Gani!" she said again, looking even more apologetic. Silver humph'ed and looked at his Pokegear again.

6:09pm.

Meganium chirruped and managed to nuzzle his shoulder without injuring him. _Don't be silly, there is nothing to worry about._ Although his klutzy Meganium had said the same thing even in the face of Ho-oh spewing fire at her ass, so Silver wasn't sure how much that comforted him.

"SILVER!" yelled Gold, rushing over to hug him.

Silver shrieked in surprise in a rather undignified way, since Gold was very LOUD and had just LOUDLY interrupted his deep thoughts of being forever alone and abandoned by everyone, and hopefully he was LOUD enough so he wouldn't have heard Silver's small shriek. (Although Meganium heard and she giggled.) But then Gold was rushing over to hug him and Silver wasn't really sure what to do next, so he shoved Gold over in a panic of indecision. Then he hugged him. And let go very quickly, because going on a date and girlishly shrieking and hugging someone _all at the same time_ was really too much for Silver.

"Auhrgh," said Gold. "How do you shove so hard..."

"Sorry," said Silver, feeling like that had been a bad move to bring to a date. Then he felt even more uncomfortable because he'd _apologised_ and how had that slipped out? "You're late."

"Yeah, I was battling and it was so awesome because I was literally down to just Togekiss and it was him against this super fierce Ampharos, but then somehow he did this amazing blahblahblah," (Silver zoned out a bit while Gold rambled on), "blahblah and then it was _so great_. Because _we won._"

Togekiss bobbed up and down enthusiastically behind him.

"Well. Good," said Silver, a bit awkwardly. "I'm... I'm glad you're here now. Yeah."

Meganium said something to Togekiss. Then they both looked at Silver and giggled.

"What's so funny, guys?" said Gold.

"Nothing," said Silver. He hadn't been _that_ worried, Meganium! It wasn't that funny! Time to change the subject. "So... what is this place? Do you like it or something?"

"Yeah, it's nice! I used to come here with my mum and dad ages ago, 'cos Cherrygrove's so close to New Bark Town. Of course, that was before dad left... but they do nice curries here." He grinned happily. "Seriously, sorry to keep you waiting. I didn't realise it'd gotten so late after that battle, and then my mum kept calling me about the package she sent me, and then Togekiss was way too tired to fly here so I ran him to the Pokecentre and..."

"It's alright," said Silver. "I didn't know that your dad left you. My dad left me too." He shrugged, because he didn't really want to make a big fuss in front of Gold. And he wasn't really sure why he was saying it anyway, and it was personal and he didn't like saying personal things to anyone, let alone a rival who made him feel worthless and weak and had done everything that Silver had wanted to do better than Silver could ever hope to. But Gold was looking at him in that way, the way he'd looked at Silver that time when he'd broken down outside Ecruteak Theatre, and that time when Silver had first sent out Crobat against him, and then Silver didn't know what to say next. Maybe he'd say it next time, whatever it was.

"Oh," said Gold.

The evening went by faster than Silver had anticipated, and then it was 10pm and dark. To his horror, he found that he actually (slightly) enjoyed talking to Gold. It was like he was somehow interested in what Gold was saying, which by extension meant being interested in Gold as a person, and that was like... being friends. Or something. Silver wasn't really sure what "being friends" was like.

Then again, he had basically started off the evening by bringing up his "family problems" – which he'd told maybe one other person about in his entire life since coming to Johto – so maybe the whole friendship thing had been inevitable. Silver humph'd and glared at the table. He hadn't meant to do that.

"... are you alright?" said Gold, poking him.

"Yeah, what," said Silver, and it was only half a lie because the only reason he didn't feel alright was because he felt far too alright being with Gold.

**ooo**

**2.**

Gold went up to the Indigo Plateau at exactly 9:59am the next Monday for his regular Monday battle against Silver. The only times Gold ever managed to come on time to anything – or indeed, as in this case, early – was for a Pokemon battle.

Because Pokemon battles were awesome.

Silver was also pretty awesome, Gold reflected. Battling against (or with) Silver was DOUBLY AWESOME. The possibility of kissing Silver again was even more exciting, and the Indigo Plateau was far more interesting than the Cherrygrove beachfront – even if Pokecentre food was complete crap – and therefore this was going to be an awesome second date.

Actually, Gold wasn't really sure if it was a date, but he didn't really care that much because POKEMON BATTLES.

Not even losing spectacularly to Silver could dampen his mood, even if Feraligatr glared at him with a look of pure hatred for being forced to take a grass-type critical hit from his arch-nemesis Meganium, and even if Dragonite kept shooting him exasperated glances which clearly said, "This is a stupid move you're ordering and I'm going to move to Blackthorn and train with Lance ner ner ner," every time she was sent out. But that didn't matter, because it had still been a fun battle and Silver had actually shook his hand afterwards. And then Gold had hugged him and then Silver had hugged him back. Which had been great.

Nurse Joy tutted a bit when she saw the state of Silver's Pokemon, and even more when she saw Gold's Pokemon. She said some disapproving words about pushing your battles too far before whisking their Pokeballs out of sight. Gold and Silver sat down in the waiting room; Silver awkwardly hesitated before taking the seat right next to Gold, but he managed to make himself sit down eventually.

"Good battle," said Gold, grinning like a maniac.

Silver looked at him as if he were (grinning like) a maniac. Then he smiled – well, the corners of his lips moved slightly and he stopped scowling, so that was probably a smile. Gold thought he might have melted a bit.

"Yeah, I like it when I win," Silver said. "That's probably obvious, but... it would have been a good battle even if I hadn't."

"I like it when..." Gold started, trying to think of a good double entendre. He couldn't.

"When what?"

"... er... well that was a great date on Saturday!"

"Yeah," said Silver, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"... I liked the bit where you tripped over your Meganium and spilt your beer on that waitress." Gold sniggered at the memory.

"Shut up, dick. That never happened."

"I'm going to remind you about it every. Single. Day."

Silver glared at him. Gold might have taken some notice if he hadn't been too engrossed in his giggling session. "Stop giggling. You sound like a wimp."

"What, you're gonna call me a wimp now just because I lost today?"

"Yes, if you don't stop giggling! God, it's even worse than your usual annoying laugh."

But Gold could see that Silver's not really _really_ angry; he's enjoying this, and he's happy because Gold's lost today and even though he's trying not to let it show, winning a battle against Gold is always a Big Deal to Silver. So he grabbed Silver's hand and pulled him into a quick kiss, laughing all the way to Silver's lips.

Silver shoved him back – but lightly, almost playfully – and kicked up a small fuss about doing that sort of thing in public where disapproving Nurse Joys can see and gossip about Champions and their sex lives. (And then there'd be paparazzi and they'd sneak into Cherrygrove Bistro to photograph them eating curry and throwing beer into the waitresses' faces and it would be awful.) Gold kept grinning though, because he could see the faint blush creep up Silver's face. That and Silver's faint smile and the fact that he's still hanging onto Silver's hand was making Gold melt even more, and he thought that maybe this was just as awesome as battling.

**ooo  
**

**3.**

Silver's prediction came true a few months later, when a crowd of reporters and photographers laid siege to his flat in Goldenrod.

"Go fuck yourself!" he said to the first one who flung himself in his doorway, and slammed the door shut. Then he called Gengar over from his usual place under his bed and watched contentedly as Gengar chased the screaming crowd out of the building, cackling evilly all the while.

Gold apparently did not have the same reaction to nosy reporters as Silver did.

"So what's actually happening between you and this Silver, then?" asked the next eager journalist, shoving the microphone towards him.

Gold beamed, a stunning perfect smile right for the cameras. "Yeah, we're dating, we usually go out once or twice a week after battling, and we've stayed over at each other's a whole bunch of times IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN."

(Everyone always knew what Gold meant, but that never seemed to deter him.)

"And how long have been you dating?" asked the journalist as she scribbled madly in her notepad.

"Huh... a couple of months, maybe? I haven't really been keeping track." Gold smiled sheepishly (yet still perfectly) for the next photo.

"So have you gone all the way? If you know what I mean..." She winked.

Gold laughed. "Actually last week we-"

And Silver, watching this on TV (under the headline "POKEMON LEAGUE CHAMPION GOLD'S SECRET GAY RELATIONSHIP!"), really did not want to hear about this because it was embarrassing enough for him that Gold had to go on and be all "so you sex me and sex us together SEX" all the damn time, and now he was doing the same thing on _national television_. Silver had no words for how horrific this was. He stormed out of the flat, fumbled around for Crobat's Pokeball, and was soon on a private flight to New Bark Town.

It would be a few more weeks before he let Gold stay over again.

**ooo  
**

**4.**

About a year after he became the Champion of the Kanto-Johto League, Gold announced that he was going off to climb Mount Silver because he'd heard a rumour that Red was up there.

Silver was not very impressed.

"That's the dumbest idea you've come up with so far, including the one about 'triple rotation battles' yesterday," said Silver.

"Triple rotation tag launcher partnered quadruple shotput battles would be fucking awesome," said Gold without a trace of sarcasm. "But seriously though, I'm going. I need to find this guy!"

There was little point arguing with Gold when he said the phrase 'but seriously though'. Still, Silver had to try.

"Because of what, one rumour? It's a fucking huge mountain where hikers go to die, not some cushy gym in Viridian. Which, by the way in case your thick head's forgotten, you demanded we spent a week sleeping in last month because of a different rumour about Red being there."

Green would never forgive them.

"Yeah, but this is _different_," Gold said.

"Yeah, it's different because you could actually die." Silver crossed his arms and glared at him. "Red's been missing for five years! Do you honestly think _you_ can find him?"

"Yes," said Gold stubbornly. "Look, you don't have to come with me this time. But I'm going, whatever you say."

"You're not leaving me to go chase after that... that kid!"

Gold gaped at him for a moment. "Well, Red's not really a kid any more, and I'm... not... leaving you... and what have you got against Red? He's the best!"

"He... screwed up my family," said Silver, scowling his scowliest scowl. "Whatever. Shut up." He didn't have very much against Red because he'd reasoned that it was more his father's fault for being a weak coward rather than Red for being a child prodigy of a trainer, but any mention of Team Rocket-related subjects was enough to put Silver in a bad mood.

"Really?" said Gold, stepping closer. "But he's Red! He's like... Red. He's the best."

"I don't want to talk about it!" snapped Silver. He couldn't really face Gold's confused eyes, so he shook himself free of Gold's arms and paced the room angrily. "Why are you desperate to find this guy, anyway? He's just another trainer. Humph."

"Because he's the best! It's like... I just need to battle him. I don't even want to win, really, it's just... battling Red would be the one and only trainer battle to live for." Gold paused, thinking of the gym badges in their cases, Lugia at the bottom of sea, Lance in the final room of the Pokemon League... "Besides, it'll be good training for my team to climb up there," he added.

"It's worth dying for, too?" Silver snarled.

"You're worried about me," Gold said happily, poking Silver as he paced past. Silver smacked his hand away.

"I am not-" Silver started, and stopped. "I mean, yes I am really fucking worried about you because there's a reason Mount Silver's a deserted wasteland with no people on it! You can't just say, 'I'm totally going to climb up there because AWESOME BATTLES' and then go off to freeze to death like that hiker in the news last year!"

"I don't sound like that!" Gold said, sounding exactly like that. "And it's not that dangerous. That hiker only had an Oddish, and he should've taken more precautions." He held out an arm and caught Silver on the return leg of his pacing circuit. "I'll have my whole team with me. Togekiss and Dragonite can fly me most of the way, and Ninetales'll make sure I don't freeze to death. And it's not even that big. I'll be back within two weeks, max."

"This is stupid. That fucking mountain," growled Silver, but he let himself be hugged anyway.

"Yeah, it's got a stupid name," agreed Gold.

Silver hit him.

ooo

But really, Silver realises, he can't tell why he's that angry (upset) that Gold is going. He thinks that maybe it's because of Red and Giovanni and Red taking down his admired role model, family and livelihood all in one well-intentioned blow, one that Silver can't even hate him for. He thinks that he's gotten as far away from Team Rocket as he can get – Gold even took them down for him, following in Red's footsteps (Gold, the bastard, always proving Silver to be so much weaker than him) – and maybe he's just angry because Gold keeps reminding him that the past still exists. Or maybe it's because he can't see how Gold can love battling and chasing after the ghost of Red more than he loves being with Silver, even if he knows that Gold doesn't mean it like that and that he's just being paranoid as usual. Maybe it's because he knows that he'll never be as strong as Red is, and he knows that if Gold does find this ghost then Gold will win (because he's _Gold_), and then Silver will know with absolute certainty that he will always, forever be weaker than his boyfriend.

Or maybe he just doesn't want Gold to go. (When Gold says "two weeks" he means "two months", because somehow he'll forget that two doesn't mean three and then he'll get a call on the third week for a rematch in the Sevii Islands or something, and then after that his Togekiss will have fathered yet another egg with some random Starly or whatever and Gold will insist on doing the decent thing and staying with Togekiss until his kid hatches. And then he'll take Togekiss to visit all his other children around the whole of Sinnoh and Johto and Kanto and probably Unova (he wouldn't be surprised), and then he'll get a call about some amazing battle opportunity in the Battle Frontier at Hoenn and THEN... and then he might remember that some people aren't Champions and can't afford to take two months off to travel all the damn time, and maybe he'll come back to Silver's place for the night.)

It's stupid and pointless to obsess over this shit anyway, let alone obsessing over _why_ he's obsessing, so Silver attempts to push all these thoughts out of his head and sleep. He hooks an arm round Gold – who's been fast asleep for about three hours already – and tries not to think about Giovanni, Red or Togekisses.

**ooo  
**

**5.**

Gold thought that Silver had an especially elegant way of walking – at least when he wasn't slouching grumpily or shoving passerbys into lampposts. It was a pretty strange thought to have, but there it was. Silver walked like a slightly grumpy catwalk model.

Silver didn't walk like Gold did, bouncing along and making his way through woods and caves not by 'strategically' looking where he was going and turning away from trees and rock walls like a normal person did, but by crashing blindly through using the Power Of Determination (And Inability To Learn) until he smacked facefirst into a Zubat.

There were way too many Zubat in those caves.

Silver didn't even walk like Lyra did; trying to fit into her place as a Very Important Person of Johto but not fully understanding what that really meant, and trying to leave behind the playful little girl that Gold knew back in New Bark. She walked with a sense of self-consciousness, even in her most confident poses for the photographers, and even with Ho-oh at her side. And it wasn't like Kris's walk either, Kris who was confident and cocky and who knew exactly which step she was taking next, and who had stared down Suicune with sheer determination.

Gold had met other Champions and other strong trainers, and he was pretty sure that they didn't walk like Silver did either. Red walked like a ghost, and Green... Green walked like Silver a few years ago, before Silver imploded in a fit of self-doubt and struggle.

"Stop staring at me, dumbass," Silver muttered.

"You have a really nice walk," Gold told him. Silver gave him a confused sideways glance.

"What was that?"

"You... walk... really nicely," said Gold rather feebly. "Man, you're so awesome."

Silver was a little bit touched by that, but then he reminded himself that Gold also thought that the one hundredth and twenty third Zubat battle in a row in Union Cave was 'SO AWESOME', and so any compliment from Gold should be taken with a pinch of salt. So instead of blushing a bit and saying, "Thanks," he shoved Gold with his shoulder (lightly) and said, "Shut up."

"I won't," said Gold, shoving him back. Silver did walk really nicely. If Gold was one for quiet reflection and nostalgia – which he wasn't – then he would have thought about Silver a couple of years ago, angry and snarling and arrogant and cruel, and who walked like he wanted to kick anyone and everyone within ten metres. Nowadays he was bit more relaxed. "It's like, you walk like a model. On a catwalk. A grumpy model."

"Are you actually trying to get me to punch you?"

"No!" yelped Gold. He jumped away just in case. "I was just saying that you're, like, y'know, all stylish and sassy and cool like that Unovan leader Elesa, and you walk like that, because you like wearing trendy clothes and nice jackets and gloves and shit." Gold did not care very much for trendy clothes. In fact, Silver was quite sure that he still sometimes wore the same battered old hoodie that he'd worn every single day of his League Challenge.

(Gold's League Challenge had taken over a year to complete. Just to put that into the proper perspective.)

"I am not _sassy_!" growled Silver. He almost started pulling back his fist for a good ol' punching, but he realised just in time that Gold was too far away to punch and that it would just look silly (and very inelegant) if he tried to punch thin air. "And this _is_ a nice jacket!"

"That why I said so." Gold grinned widely.

**ooo  
**

**6.**

"Hello, I believe this is Silvano's phone number?" said the polite voice on the other end of the line. Silver dropped his Pokegear in shock.

"No," he snarled once he picked it back up. "And fuck off!" He threw the Pokegear on the floor again.

"HELLO SILV-ow! What the hell?" said Gold, who had just entered the kitchen. He was currently jumping around and rubbing his foot and looking generally a bit stupid. "Hey, Rule Number Twenty-Two says no throwing things at me!"

"Sorry," muttered Silver. "I got a phone call."

"... did they insult your mum or something? That was a really violent throw... owww..."

"Nothing like that." Silver took a deep breath. "That was my father. I don't know how he managed to get my Pokegear number, or why he's calling."

"Your... father? He abandoned you, right?"

Silver had mentioned his family exactly once to Gold, way back a couple of years ago on their first date. It had been a stupid slip-up, and he'd vowed not to let it happen again. Some things, thought Silver, were best left undisturbed.

God, he hated Giovanni even more now. Making him renege on that vow and start stirring the whole vat of shit up again.

"Yes," replied Silver, and stopped.

"I guess you don't like him very much," hazarded Gold.

"That's... an understatement."

Whatever Gold was about say was interrupted by the "BRRRRINGrrgerbzzzz! BRRRRINGrgerrrrbz! BRRRRRBZZZZZ!" of Silver's battered and now apparently broken Pokegear. Silver stared at it.

"C'mon man, pick it up!"

Silver punched the table.

"You can put it on speakerphone if you want," Gold said, reaching over and grabbing his hand before he could turn more furniture into firewood. "I'll be here, okay."

Silver made a non-specific angry sound, wrenched his hand (painfully) out of Gold's grasp, and marched over to pick up the Pokegear. Then he walked back and surreptitiously put his hand back into Gold's grasp.

"What the fuck," he growled into the Pokegear.

"Silvano, I'm very happy that you answered," said the voice on the other end. "It's been far too long since we've spoken."

"Yeah, and there's a good reason behind that! I don't want to ever speak to you again, you weak little coward."

"Stop spitting on me!" said Gold.

Silver glared at him. "Why the fuck are you even calling me, anyway?"

"Well," said the voice slowly, "I would like to see you again. You are still my son, after all! Surely it's not that hard to understand?"

"Shut up," said Silver. "I'm nothing at all like you, and I don't care what you want. You can't just be calling because you want to just 'see me again'. What else do you want?"

"Nothing! I promise you, this is just a friendly family call. Please keep it in mind!"

There was a click and the Pokegear buzzed with the sound of static.

"Damn him, I wanted to hang up first," Silver mumbled. He threw the Pokegear on the floor again (this time missing Gold's feet), though with somewhat less force than before.

Gold hugged him. Silver let himself relax into the hug, and turned to sniff Gold's hair. They sat in silence for some moments before Silver finally said something.

"You don't even know who my dad is, do you?" he said bitterly.

"You never told me..."

"He's the head of Team Rocket. Or he was, anyhow." Silver breathed out slowly. It was... a relief, to finally get that sentence out? He couldn't tell. It was the same kind of feeling he'd had when he'd first said out loud to the empty air that he liked boys, or the first time he'd said 'I'm sorry,' to his poor sweet Meganium, or indeed that first terrifying time when he'd made a move on Gold and kissed him as he sat down next to him on the beach at Cherrygrove. All in all, reflected Silver, that seemed like a good track record for 'this type of feeling', so... probably fine...

"Oh. Huh. Wow," said Gold, not very helpfully. "Your dad is Giovanni?! Like, the Giovanni that Red took down? _The_ Team Rocket Giovanni?"

"... yes."

"Man, that must've sucked."

Silver didn't really want to go into too much detail about just how sucky his childhood was. "Yeah, I suppose it did. But I ran away when Red beat him, and that's why I came to Johto."

"I guess you don't really wanna go and meet him, huh?"

To be honest, Silver didn't know what he wanted right at that moment. Five minutes before he wouldn't have hesitated to shout 'no' as quickly and as loudly as possible, but... after that phone call, his brain can't decide. Hearing his father's voice was too much of a reminder that Giovanni was a real person, not some demonic supernatural construct that didn't need any reaction from Silver except for hate.

"Not now," he said after a pause. Not now. But not 'never'. Perhaps this was the last step, if only he could take it.

Gold, somewhat uncharacteristically, didn't reply for a while, instead opting to kiss the back of Silver's neck since Silver was shivering uncontrollably. Finally, he said, "I totally didn't know your name was Silvano. YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME."

**ooo  
**

**7.**

"What," said Silver. He rubbed his eyes.

"Ganium!" said Meganium, scampering around the object happily. She knocked it over with her tail and stopped, looking shocked.

"Don't step on it!" shouted Gold, running towards them. His Feraligatr followed, looking even more worried.

"... yeah, don't do that," Silver said. He picked up the leafy green egg and considered it, holding it at arm's length.

"C'mon, you can show your baby a little more love than that," Gold said, sniggering. He swiped the egg and hugged it. "Aww... I'm gonna be an uncle..."

"What, what about all your Togekiss's children?" Silver said. Maybe he should also cuddle the egg. Although it seemed a bit more embarrassing that cuddling Meganium, which was already quite far up in the mortification scale.

"... you're gonna be the fiercest little Chikorita ever!" Gold grinned at Feraligatr, who gave a suitably ferocious roar of approval. Meganium trotted up to him and rubbed her head against his scaly belly.

"I thought you hated him," Silver said suspiciously to Meganium.

"Mega!" she said happily. Silver didn't know how to interpret that.

"... and I'm gonna teach you how to flail just like your daddy does... and we can do triple battles with your mummy too... and then I'll take you home and you can snuggle up with me and Feraligatr in bed... and-"

"You snuggle up with Feraligatr in my bed?" said Silver, frowning. _Feraligatr can snuggle?_

"It's my bed too!" said Gold, sparing him a glance. "... And one day you'll be a great big Meganium like your mummy and you might have to move out and find a nice strong trainer to travel with and... it'll be so SAD... oh god I'm making myself feel sad already."

Silver looked at Feraligatr. As far as he could tell, Feraligatr was feeling the same as he was: embarrassed, and pondering whether to kick Gold to shut him up. (Meganium, on the other hand, was cuddling up with Gold and the egg and looking almost as soppy as Gold was.)

"Gold, shut the hell up," Silver said. Feraligatr 'grrr'd in agreement.

"... and this moody bastard over here is your other uncle, okay? He's a moody bastard who doesn't like love."

Meganium chirped, slightly cross at the use of Bad Language in front of her egg.

"Gold, it's an egg. You're talking to an egg. And I do like... love..." Silver trailed off, feeling a blush coming on.

"Yeah, I guess I should know after last night, huh?" Gold grin-smirked at him. (Silver needed a new word to describe that expression. Sminned? Grirked?) "I'm joking, I'm joking. You know I love you really."

"Yeah. Well, uh... same to you." Feraligatr had noticed his blush and was crocodile-laughing at him. Silver kind of wanted to sink into a Diglett hole and die right there so he'd never have to face Feraligatr, Gold or the egg again. It's not the first time that he's said (or rather, implied) that he loved Gold, but standing out here in a muddy field with Gold telling an egg that he's a moody bastard of a funny uncle and Meganium whacking him in the face with an antenna every few seconds and Feraligatr sniggering at him – somehow it makes it a hundred times worse than usual.

And somehow, a hundred times better. There's honestly nowhere else that Silver would rather be at that moment – he hugged Meganium, and she squealed loudly in happiness.

**ooo  
**

**8.**

Sometimes Gold thinks that he must have been born lucky. Now Gold doesn't think to himself very often, at least not thoughts any deeper than 'Bellossom's petal dance is looking AWESOME these days!', so maybe it's more special when he does. Silver certainly notices, at least. He's often a major part of Gold's deeper thoughts in any case.

Gold doesn't stop for anything when he's on the move. He doesn't stop for breaks between battles (his sheer enthusiasm inspires his team to fall over themselves trying to keep up), he still hasn't worked out the meaning of brakes on a bike, and he barrels through life no matter what. So he doesn't often stop to think about his winning streaks and his titles, his achievements and his fame. Winning's never been on the goal list for him; it's just the battles and his Pokemon that he's running this endless race for. He still gets excited for every interview and every battle, even when Silver's irritated to the point of punching the next reporter or challenger in the face.

So it only hits him on occasion, maybe once every half a year or so, that he's actually _really pretty fantastic_ at battling, and that he's even defeated Red (well, once out of eleven attempts in the depths of Mount Silver) which makes him... it makes him the Best.

Gold doesn't know how to react to that. He thinks that it should only be people like Silver or Kris who become the Best, not him who didn't even want it or realise it. It should be Kris, the chosen one, or Lyra, who can deal with gods like Ho-oh. Not him, who couldn't even bring himself to ask Lugia to battle for him because that would mean rejecting one of his beloved team for it.

And after all that he has Silver. And that's pretty special.

Gold moves closer to Silver's side of the bed until he's basically draped over him (it'll probably be uncomfortable in about ten minutes because naked draping gets sweaty and sticky, but it's kinda comforting right now). It's not fair, he thinks to himself, that he had his mum and Lyra and Kris while Silver just had Giovanni, and that he somehow accidentally became the Best and smashed Silver's own hopes. All that's in the past and Gold knows that Silver doesn't care anymore, that the wounds are healed and hardly worth mentioning, but... Gold just wants Silver to share his luck when he can.

**ooo  
**

**9.**

Silver thinks that snuggling is okay in short bursts (well actually it's quite nice, maybe even very nice, or maybe... really really great... but that would be stupid and mushy to admit) but he really hates it when Gold has his half-yearly angsting session in the middle of the night and then Silver ends up with Gold sprawled all over him in the throes of passionate feelings, and he can't get out of bed because Gold's just clinging onto him.

**OOO**

_A/N: I've been playing SoulSilver so this is my headcanon:  
- Gold is a dude from New Bark who became champion with Feraligatr. He met Lugia but didn't capture it. Lyra set off at around the same time but didn't become champion (there can only be one?) but met Ho-oh, and Kris did some cool shit with Suicune and the other dogs.  
- I refuse to believe that under 15s are allowed to travel the world by themselves, so I'm saying that Gold was about 16-17 when he became Champion._  
_- Gold having a Typhlosion is cool and all, but I just love the idea of Silver and a happy ditzy punching bag Meganium_.  
_- Giovanni is Italian so I assumed that he'd give Silver an Italian name, and also explains why Silver is called Silver because seriously, who is actually called Silver. Or Gold. Etc._

_I welcome any reviews and criticism! It'll be great to know what you guys liked, hated or would like to see in my next fic :).  
_


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